Ninja Wars - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Ninja Wars



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:




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Movie
Have you ever seen a movie and said to yourself, “These people must have been on crack when they made this!” Well, that’s exactly the sort of reaction that most people would have for 1982’s Ninja Wars. And to be fair, this is not the only Japanese movie during that time period where one might assume that large quantities of illegal substances were being snorted during production. Japan has had a “stigma” for years over titsexploitation films, and it really started in the very late 70s and early 80s with the Ninja films that came out. Many were just over-the-top, gory, and brutal, with decapitations and blood galore. But Ninja Wars sort of takes the cake for being bizarre, as it feels like a hallucinogenic nightmare, fueled by lots of mushrooms and a desire to be “edgy” in a world that was moving away from the traditional Mitsune-style samurai films. So why not try to be a bit more like the Chinese Wu Xia films, but with a decidedly Japanese twist.

Ninja Wars opens up in Feudal Japan, where a young Ninja named Jotaro (a baby-faced Hiroyuki Sanada) watches as his girlfriend Kagaribi (Noriko Watanabe) is captured by a group of 5 immortals, who happen to do the bidding of Feudal lord Danjo (Akira Nakao). You see, Kagaribi is actually the long-lost twin sister of the Shogun’s wife, Ukyo (also played by Noriko Watanabe), and the conniving slime bag has a plan to marry, kill the Shogun, and marry Ukyo himself. With the help of a roving magician, Danja crafts a love potion using Kagaribi’s tears, and in order to force Kagaribi to pose as Ukyo herself, severs her head and puts it on the body of his own consort (yeah, please make this make sense).

Now, Jotaro has to track down Danjo, team up with the ACTUAL Princess Ukyo, and put an end to this madness once and for all. And let's just be real here. None of this is going to make a lick of sense, and that’s part of the charm. Ninja Wars is an absolutely gonzo bit of Ninja filmmaking, blending elements of classic Wu Xia cinema with Japanese traditions, as well as a little bit of crack cocaine to make it all the more bizarre. The film plays out like a traditional courtesan-based drama at first, but soon devolves into severed heads, magic, immortal ninjas, random nudity, and of course Hiroyuki Sanada doing his best to keep the whole thing together.

While the original artwork announced Sonny Chiba’s name front and center, Chiba is more of a side character, coming in for about 30 seconds near the beginning of the film, only to show up to rescue Jotaro near the very end. So rest assured this is really a Hiroyuki Sanada film through and through. But that being said, this is purely a gonzo film, and you’re in for a whirlwind ride that won’t let up until the tragic ending. Personally, I find the film a bit too bizarre to really enjoy thoroughly, as it has elements of the more stereotypical Ninja films of the 1980s, but the blending of dark magic, laugh-out-loud silliness, and over-the-top gore makes this just a WEIRD watch. I remember watching this in the 90s and thinking it was the greatest thing since sliced bread, but 30 years later I have to admit that Ninja Wars works as a curiosity for most, and a cult watch for its fans.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

According to the opening scrawl, Ninja Wars was remastered in 2022 via TOEI and given a 4K master via Kadokawa. And while I’m usually not wild about the films that Arrow/Toy Robot does that they don’t remaster themselves, this one is a very solid-looking remaster. Fine details abound, and the crazy nature of the film lends itself towards bright colors, with heavy emphasis on the black ninja garb, the green foliage, and the blue and green neon shades where things get magical. There are some weird color timing glitches here and there, and a few soft-focus shots, but overall clarity is great and the black levels pretty good.







Audio:

The 2.0 DTS-HD MA track (really surprised it wasn’t an LPCM track, but maybe the encode was pre-supplied to them) is a solid performer, but limited by the time it was in, and the genre that it is. Dialog is decent enough, though the high end is a bit harsh, and both vocals and some sound effects are a bit brash. The track is forceful and aggressive, utilizing classic action sounds as well as a decent score. Simply put, this is a lightly rough track that has very little wrong with it from an encoding standpoint, but rather a product of its time and will not sound as perfect or exemplary as a Hollywood mix from the same time period.










Extras:

• NEW Audio Commentary by Jonathan Clements
• NEW A Japanese Ninja: author Matt Alt on NINJA WARS
• NEW The Way of the Ninja: author and academic Daisuke Miyao on the ninja in Japanese Cinema
• Theatrical Trailers
• VHS version (in standard definition)

Final Score: ​

As a lifelong lover of Chinese and Japanese cinema, I’ve seen it all. The horrific, the bloody, the bizarre, and the martial arts-fueled excitement of the time period. But very few films can hit that right amount of camp, gore, and pure crack-filled narrative structure that Ninja Wars embodies. There are elements that really keep this from being a great film, but this is still one of those genre flicks that I enjoy despite me “maturing” (at least as much as I have according to my wife) since my last viewing. Arrow/Toy Robot has done a great job with the Toei remastered film, and we even get the VHS version (which was a slightly gorier cut) as part of the extras as well. Overall, a single thumbs up from this genre fan.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Hiroyuki Sanada, Jun Miho, Yuki Kazamatsuro, Sonny Chiba
Directed by: Kosei Saito
Written by: Futaro Yamada
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: Japanese: DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles: English
Studio: Toy Robot Video
Rated: NR
Runtime: 100 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: September 29th, 2026

Recommendation: Great Watch